


One Day I'll See You Again

by WhatAmIDoingWithMyLife55



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Dragons, Fake Character Death, M/M, Magic, Minor Character Death, Near Death Experiences, Transformation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-07-20 16:04:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19994950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatAmIDoingWithMyLife55/pseuds/WhatAmIDoingWithMyLife55
Summary: Based on the animatic (You Have my Heart) - Every Day a Little Death by Altruistic Skittles(side note, I'm very aroace so the relationship wont really be very indepth)King Thomas of the Starlight kingdom has two little brothers, Roman and Patton, the last of whom fell in love with a prince from the next kingdom over, Prince Virgil.Unfortunately for them, Virgil has a nasty habit of making everyone believe he's dead.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Here is the link to the animatic this is based off of  
> https://youtu.be/iSL122yPjD0 
> 
> side note, I know the first chapter is short, sue me. I would've made it a one shot but it didn't flow right.

Prince Patton of the Starlight kingdom woke up smiling. His love, Prince Virgil of the neighboring kingdom, the Isles of Storms, was going on a dragon hunt today, and promised he would ride to Pattons kingdom the minute the hunt was done. He went about his day with no doubt that he would see Virge possibly by the end of the day, tomorrow night at the latest. 

His brothers, Prince Roman and King Thomas had both accepted the two's romantic involvement from it's very beginning. Their partnership with Virgil's kingdom had grown the strongest it had been in years because of it.

Although he was confident that Virgil would be okay, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. He moved about his day on autopilot, not paying attention to anything that was going on.

It was a few hours past midday when Patton was lying on his bed, absentmindedly playing with the locket that matched the one Virgil was wearing. He flipped it open to stare at the small picture inside, and flipped it closed again. Open and close. Open and close. Open and-

"Prince Patton?"

He looked up, seeing the royal advisor and close friend to the royal family, Logan in the open doorway. 

Sitting up, Patton asked with a smile, "What's up?"

Logan did not smile back. A flash of red appeared behind Logan, who moved to show Roman. His eyes were slightly red and wet, a clear sign that he had been crying.

King Thomas, the eldest of the three brothers, revealed himself as well. He ushered the two others into the room, quietly closing the door behind him. He had clearly been on the verge of crying as well.

Patton rose quickly and crossed the room to stand in front of Roman and lightly grab his arms. Pattons eyes were wide and questioning, fearing the worst. Roman opened his mouth, only to close it a few seconds later, words escaping the eldest of the two. He looked to Logan for help.

Logan gave a barely perceptible nod to Roman, turning to face Patton. He took a grounding breath, Thomas resting his hand on his shoulder for moral support.

"Princess Mara has just arrived with a message from her kingdom," he began, "Prince Virgil has been killed."


	2. Life on Your Own

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaand chapter 2! the last chapter is like 2000 words on it's own so far and its not even close to done yet lmao. Not really any good spots to split it into two chapter tho whoops

Prince Virgil had been excited for today's dragon hunt. There were whispers of a new sighting close by, and as the heir to the throne, he had been leading his men to find it. He remembered thumbing the locket that held his beloved Prince Patton's picture, silently promising he would be back soon, despite anything his sister had to say.

His sister, Mara, was older than him, but their father had only wanted to give his kingdom to a male heir. As a result, Mara had never been particularly kind to him as he grew up. When he had proposed to Prince Patton, she had objected, saying that they could not bear children, and therefore could not be king. Their father of course, dismissed her, not wanting her to be the queen when he died. 

He had known that his sister didn't like him, he never could have known she hated him this much.

She had separated him from his hunting party with a little dark magic, obscuring his men's vision so they didn't see him wander off to investigate a noise. He saw her to his right. 

He forgot most of her little speech past the main bits. She wanted him gone so she could take the throne. He had a split second warning before his vision went white and he was screaming. 

Pain like he had never experienced filled his thoughts. It felt like his back was being crushed, stretched, and split in half all at the same time.

It felt like years before it stopped. He opened his eyes, only to quickly shut them it how bright it was. He moved to bring his hand up to rub his face, freezing when it wasn't a hand that touched his face. Opening his eyes again and squinting against the light, he looked down at- a claw. A claw that had scales. A beautiful shade of dark purple dragon scales were covering his arms. He turned his head and- yep he had a tail. He should probably be more worried about this, but hey shock is a powerful thing.

"Prince Virgil- what the hell?!" one of the guards yelled at he saw Virgil, now no longer recognizable as himself. Everything looked so much smaller from up here, Virgil noted. The guard's eyes widened as he looked at the ground below Virgil, before looking back up and calling for the other men. 

Virgil looked down, only now seeing the remains of his armour strewn around him. He realised that the guards had found him, a dragon, beside their princes torn clothes, and said prince nowhere to be found. It would look to an outsider like he had eaten the prince.

As the rest of the hunting party broke through the trees, Virgil turned and ran, realizing that  _ holy crap he had wings. _ He opened them and beat them as hard as he could, struggling to get away.

He flew as fast as he could to the nearest mountain, hoping that there was a cave he could find shelter in for the night. He was lucky and found one on the side that faced the vast plains that separated his kingdom from Starlight. Starlight.  _ Patton. _ Oh god, his hunting party thinks he's dead. It's not going to be long until Patton knows too.

The second he stumbled into the shade of the cave, he suddenly fell onto his arms.  _ Arms. _ He had arms again? Doing a quick once over, he found that he was human again. Naked, but human. He grinned, his face lighting up. Some magic, to only turn him into a beast for a few hours.

He moved to walk out of the cave, only to turn back into a dragon.  _ What? _ Trying to test something, he stuck his front leg into the shade the cave provided. When nothing happened, he kept walking further in. The second the last inch of skin left the light, he turned human again. He did the same the opposite way, to find that the second the sunlight touched him, he became a large, purple dragon.

That was fine. The second the sun went down, that meant he was good. Unfortunately, the hunting party had left first thing in the morning, so he had a while before he could do anything. Fortunately for him, he had a lot of things to mull over. 

First of all, he had to run through the events in his head a few times to really believe that he wasn't dreaming. Second, why was his sister there? He saw her and a flash of light, and then he was a dragon. He remembered that she had always shown an interest in magic, but to stoop to practicing dark magic? There was no way. Yet all the facts were right there.

He spent the rest of the day going over what he knew. He explored the cave, which went a lot farther into the mountain that he originally thought. He found a large opening that had a hole in the ceiling. Thankfully the space was more than big enough for a dragon.

As the sun set, he paced the mouth of the cave, anxiously waiting until the sun had set low enough to his left that shadows no longer reached across the plains. He hesitantly stepped out of the cave, silently cheering when he remained human. He carefully climbed his way down, not noticing the slight magical hum the rocks held, or the presence that was hiding in the treeline when he reached the bottom. 

Trailing his hand on a large rock, he looked to where the last traces of light were coming from, and started to walk the opposite direction. The second his hand left the rock, he hit his newly sprouted wings on a tree. He ran back to the rock, turning human again immediately.

"No. No, no, no  _ no nononono _ "

This isn't how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to live out the rest of his life with Patton by his side. He clutched the dip of his collarbone where his locket had sat, nails scratching and digging into his skin. 

He forfeited climbing back up in favor of flying to the large hole in the ceiling he had found earlier. He sat and cried until the earliest beams of light started touching the mountain.

In the light of a new day, he found a sharp rock near the back of the cave and carved a single line into the wall.

~~~~~~~~~

"It was a dragon attack," Logan continued as Thomas led Patton to sit on his bed. "The funeral is in three days time."

"She… she has to return home to prepare for the funeral, but she brought this with her," Roman said, "one of the men in the hunting party found it. She thought you would want to have it," he handed Patton a small, golden, heart shaped locket. He took it and clicked it open, staring at the picture of him on the inside. He collapsed into his brothers arms as he broke down crying.


	3. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil tries to go home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok ok I know I said 3 chapters but wow this ran away from me. I'm finishing up chapter 4 now, and aiming for five or six, depending on how I want to split it up.
> 
> I feed off comments and kudos <3

Over the next few weeks, Virgil practiced transforming back and forth. He was able to delay the change for a few seconds, so he didn't go crashing into the floor when he flew in, and he didn't turn into a dragon any time he jumped.

A few days after what he had dubbed 'the attack', he flew out into a nearby town and grabbed a claw full of stuff from a tailor's. Thankfully, he had grabbed an already half made cloak, and enough materials to finish it himself. Although the purple patches were far from the style, he doubted he was going to see anyone for a while so he didnt care much. (He felt kinda bad that he had taken purple, as that was one of the most expensive fabric colours to make). 

A week or so after that (and after flying around a little bit so it didn't seem like he was attacking random tailor's) he managed to steal a plain pair of pants and a black shirt too. He ended up with a lot more fabric that he really needed, but it meant that he didn't need to go flying for fabric to patch with if it got ripped.

Months past, and he had managed to perfect the art of transforming without destroying his clothes. He had accepted that he was never going to see his chosen family again, but it still hurt when he flew too close to the Sanders' kingdom.

He had to be careful when going out for food or supplies now. Everyone in both kingdoms knew of the purple dragon that had killed Prince Virgil and of how it terrorized the small towns on the outskirts. 

He had run into people he knew several times. They always seemed to throw the most things at him. Probably because they thought he killed their friend. 

He had visited his grave once. He had to resist the urge to knock down the stone that marked where no body was buried. He avoided that stretch of forest as much as possible.

He only knew how long it had been by the groups of tally marks covering the walls of the cave, but he knew it was nearing the cold months now, and food was getting scarce. He kept having to push the boundaries of his territory to look for food and had some close scrapes because of it. He always took his catches back to the cave to eat as a human. He wasn't sure how it worked, but if he was full as a human, he seemed to be full as a dragon.

It was the end of the harvest season. Any other dragons he had seen had all seemed to disappear. Maybe they had stocked food for the winter. Virgil would've if he was smart enough to think ahead.

Nevertheless, he still had plenty of time to himself. He found himself daydreaming about any memories from before the attack. Today it seemed his mind was wondering to his dragon hunts. How him and his men would spend days at a time tracking down dangerous dragons.

Wait.

He was an idiot. Why did he never think of this sooner? He stood and started pacing around one of the smaller 'rooms' in the cave where he had set up his nest. He can't leave the cave to get help. Why couldnt he get the help to come to him? 

He was already a ridiculously well known dragon, it was a wonder they hadn't tracked him down already. Maybe they had tried. He knew that Roman would jump at any chance to kill him, even if it was purely for Patton's sake. All he had to do was make it obvious where his nest was. They would send a hunting party, most likely lead by Roman himself. 

Then again, if he led them to his nest, they would all come at once. After months with no human interaction and barely any talking, he wasn't really sure he could handle 40 plus armoured men in his nest. Plus they were pretty set on the fact that Virgil was dead. They would probably assume he was some sort of dragon-witch using dark magic.

Talking to Roman alone would be his best bet, which meant he needed to separate him from the party. His best bet would be to grab him and fly him back to the cave, although that would scare him and his men, and they'd probably start attacking him.

But having the entire party in one place ment  it was more likely for someone to freak out and attack him anyway, and there's a small chance that Roman does not lead the party, and then he's stuck with a bunch of random, hostile men in his nest.

So capture Roman it was. Although he had to make his presence known. Walk through the woods and kill a few animals, fly over a few nearby towns, et cetera. 

The next couple days he spent flying over towns (he may or may not have stolen some more thread to fix the hole in his shirt). He spent his nights sitting at the mouth of the cave, watching for torch lights in the forest below. 

Four days later, he was flying over the plains, the closest he had ever dated to fly to the castle, when he saw a mass of soldiers if the colours of both his kingdom and Patton's, leaving the Starlight kingdom gates. Looking closely, he could spot Roman's armour that distinguished him from the rest of the men. It looked like Virgil's head guard was leading the men from his kingdom. He did a wide bank overhead, heading directly into the section of forest he deemed the best spot for his plan.

Making sure to leave some footprints and broken branches along the way, he scoped out his tree, one that was low enough that he could swoop down and grab Roman off his horse, but high and big enough that it hid him from view and gave him an advantage if he had to run. There was a clearing in between his tree and the kingdom. He was hoping for them to stop to rest there to make his job easier, but it would work either way.

He sat for hours, unmoving, not willing to threaten the one shot he had at living his life again. If this went right, he would be able to tell everyone what happened. He could tell his father of Mara's plan to take the throne. He could see the Sanders brothers again. He could see  _ Patton. _ He twitched slightly, wanting to scratch at the spot on his collarbone where the locket has rested, or where it would've been if he was human, of course. It had become a bit of a habit to dig his nails into his skin until the pain went away.

Finally, the telltale sound of walking filled the forest. Virgil barely breathed as they walked towards him, but was breathing too fast at the same time. Roman paused at the edge of the clearing and turned around to address his men. Somehow in the mess of planning, he had picked a tree that would let him grab Roman easily, but he had forgotten that everyone else was facing him and would see the slightest movement. That just meant he had to be fast.

He opened his wings slightly, angling them to be ready to glide him to Roman and immediately take off. His claws gripped the branch tighter, wood creaking.  Moment of truth. If he missed, he was as good as dead.

A breath of hesitation.

He leapt.


	4. The Reveal

The wind rushed under his wings as he pushed off the branch. He extended his front claws forward, ready to grab.

Roman's left arm had been part way in the air as he made an inspiring statement to the hunting party, making it easy to grab his bicep so he couldn't go for his sword. Virgil's other claw grabbed Roman's shoulder, trying not to dig his claws in too hard.

He took off, trying and failing to ignore the yelling and screams that were coming from Roman and the men who were yelling after him. He flew as fast as he could towards his cave, knowing that the faster he put Roman down, the faster he could explain and go home.

They were  _ so close _ to the mouth of the cave when Virgil felt a stabbing pain in his front left leg. His screams turned into a roar as he fell the last few feet onto the mountain. He let go of Roman and slid on his side into the cave. 

Blinking his eyes open, he realised several things at once. 

He was not far enough into the cave to be completely in the shade, and was therefore still a dragon. 

Roman had managed to grab his sword with his right hand, and had stabbed Virgil in his lower left leg. 

Lastly, Roman's sword was no longer in his leg. It was in his stomach, which had been exposed to Roman when he had slid.

Roman pulled the sword out in one quick movement. Virgil let out a whimper of pain, and tried to move backwards farther into the cave. He didn't know if he would stay a dragon if he died, or if he would turn back into a human. He imagined the look on Roman's face when he realised he had killed his brother in all but blood, and he moved backwards again.

Roman placed his sword over Virgil's neck, ready to cut it at the smallest provocation. He leaned closer to Virgil's face, as if to look him in the eye when he died. 

Somehow, as if fate itself pitied Virgil's plight, he used a last burst of adrenaline to fly himself farther into the cave. He used all of his will power to keep from changing form mid flight. He made it as far as the room with the hole in the ceiling before collapsing and curling in on himself.

He felt his wings turn to ash, and blow away in the wind. His body shrunk, spine contracting and shifting to accommodate arms instead of four legs. He felt the stab wounds take their places on stomach and arm, the one on his arm shifting size to match the new limb. His dragon skin melted into his patchwork cloak, and his shirt began to immediately soak with blood.

Roman cursed as the dragon flew into the cave. Knowing it couldn't have gone far, he walked deeper into the shadows. There were weird lines along the walls the farther he got. Upon closer inspection they looked like- tally marks? Why would there be tally marks in a dragon's den? He pressed forward, tabling the question for later.

Virgil laid there and heard clearly as Roman approached him. He was sure that Roman was going to assume that he was using dark magic and try to finish the job. Seconds past before the sound of metal falling to the ground made him flinch.

"Virgil?" Roman's voice was quiet and tentative, unsure. Virgil was curled up on his side, wrapped in a black cloak with purple patches messily hand sewn on.

Virgil, still cautious of Roman, did his best to crawl backwards. Small whimpering sounds escaped him as blood  _ drip drip dripped _ to the ground.

Roman fell to his knees in front of him, frantically pressing his hands into the wound on Virgil's stomach, tears dripping down his face. 

"Virgil? Virgil please, say something," Roman begged. "Did the dragon do this to you? Come now, we must get out of here fast, before it comes back. You need help-"

_ "No!"  _ Virgil cried, pushing away from Roman. He was light headed from blood loss, but he knew that if Roman knew he was the dragon, he would kill him. He knew it. He would kill him. He would-

"Virgil! Please Virgil please just listen to me this once. If not for me, then for Patton,"

Virgil stilled, heart clenching at hearing his beloved's name spoken out loud. He scratched at his throat not realizing how deep he was digging his nails until Roman took his hands in his own.

"No, no stop you're going to hurt yourself more! Virgil we have to get you back, you need help!" Roman cried, frustrated tears leaking from his eyes.

"Can't- I cant-" Virgil said in between harsh, fast breaths. 

"Can't what?" Roman prompted, impatient and worried for his brothers lover.

"Can't go outside," Virgil gasped, "dark magic. Curse. Can't," 

Roman's eyes widened, hope dying. "That's okay, that's okay," he repeated, not sure if he was reassuring himself or Virgil. "We can go to the opening of the cave and wait for someone to come," he said, grasping at straws.

"No- no please I can't- don't want to-" Virgil was still breathing hard, but slowly losing conscious.

"Okay, okay that's alright. We'll stay in the cave. I need to move us closer to the exit though so I can get the medic, okay?" Virgil nodded, fighting to stay awake.

Roman quickly picked up the small, too-thin prince, and ran towards the opening of the cave. Thankfully, Roman had the insight to request that they bring a doctor with them. They were already climbing the mountain when Roman set Virgil down and ran toward the mouth of the cave.

He ordered a few of the men to bring the news to both kingdoms, and to find whoever was most adept in breaking dark magic curses. The rest of them set up camp, exploring and clearing the cave, making sure the dragon wasn't hiding anywhere.

Roman sat in the tent next to Virgil all night, making sure he didn't wake up. He watched him breathe easily, thinking to when he found him.

"What happened to you?" he whispered.

The next morning, Virgil woke up. He had bandages around his stomach and arm, as well as stitches to hold the wound on his stomach shut. He was inside a tent, he assumed the party brought a few in case the hunt took longer than they thought.

He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do from here on. He had planned to explain when it was just him and Roman, but now everyone was in his cave, and his voice wasn't particularly good enough to explain with just words. At least he had explained about the curse enough that he wouldn't be forced outside.

Roman ducked into the tent, seeing that Virgil was awake. He said a greeting, not expecting a response. Roman didn't want to bombard him with questions, but so many things weren't adding up. They sat in silence for a bit,until Roman worked up the courage to talk.

"Virgil?" he asked

The small prince made a noise in response.

"Can you tell me who cursed you?"

That got Virgil's attention. His head snapped up, staring at Roman as his breathing picked up. Roman watched with surprise before scooting over beside Virgil and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Ma- Mara. She-" Virgil sobbed, "she did it," his voice cracked every other word, evidence of months and months of no use.

Roman was silent, shocked at the fact that the eldest child could do that. He slipped away from Virgin silently to give a message to one of the men to bring to the king of the Isles of Storms. He went back to where he had been sitting. 

"Virgil?" he asked to get his attention, "Messengers were sent last night to both kingdoms to alert them of your wellbeing. They're both searching for the best magicians across the land to help," He paused, gauging Virgil's reaction, which only seemed to be a slight head nod as his stare bore holes in the ground.

"Patton and Logan also know," Virgil squeezed his eyes shut as Roman continued, "It's not a long ride, they can be here before the sun sets tomorrow. I just need to know if you want to see them. There's no guarantee a magician will be found soon," He stopped his sentence, but Virgil could practically hear the 'and we might not be able to fix this' hanging onto the end of it.

Virgil nodded his head again slightly. Quietly, he swallowed and said, "I want to see them,"

Roman gave a curt nod, and slipped away to send another one of his men back to Starlight with the news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oop it has happened (but has it really?) I am tired as hell and the quality of my writing is going everywhere so I'm throwing this here and calling it a night lmao


	5. News

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long! Writers block + google docs deciding to not work for a day or so when I was in the mood to write sucks. Plus the fact that I'm in vacation in another country and have very limited and slow wifi

The kingdoms had been in mourning for weeks after Virgil's death. The public funeral had been packed, with seemingly every person Virgil had ever smiled at attending to pay their respects. 

Virgil had been a quiet, but well loved member of the royal family. He had made an effort to go into the towns dressed in common clothing, although that never stopped anyone from recognizing him. He had confessed to Patton one day that walking through the towns and markets actually made him really anxious, but he felt that he had to, as his family had a history of not having a great reputation with their subjects.

It hadn't been fast when Patton fell in love with the emo prince. They had formed a tentative friendship when Virgil had visited Starlight with his father for a negotiations meeting when they were kids. As the years past, Virgil had come to his kingdom more and more often. He had realised he was in love late one night as they snuck away from the castle to be alone, dodging the guards and letting Virgil pull him along to the spot he had picked out.

Every moment since then had been something that Patton cherished with his whole being. Their confession, which had not been planned by either party, but rather a slip of the tongue from Virgil. The look he had gotten when Patton told him he felt the same was something he wished he could remember forever, yet resented the amount of surprise in it. 

When the news came of Virgil's death, he broke. Yet, Patton had been conflicted when Roman told him that he was going to hunt down the dragon that killed Virgil. It was still a living creature and deserves to live, but at the same time, it killed Virgil. Eventually he agreed to the hunt. Thomas only needed the okay from his youngest brother before he approved the hunt, the Isle of Storms sending some of their troops to help as well.

Logan was unsure about the hunt. He had suspicions that something wasn't as it seems ever since the funeral, but nothing to base them off of except for one small fact.

There had been no body to bury at the funeral. Of course, that would've made sense if Virgil- if he was eaten, but dragons have been known to eat guards, armour and all. In place of a body, they had buried his armour, which was destroyed and dented, but almost entirely there.

Why would the armour be there, but no trace at all of Virgil? It just didn't make sense. He had hoped that Patton would disagree with the hunt so he could figure out what was going on, but he approved it faster than he thought.

A few hours after the hunting party left, he knocked on Patton's door, and asked for entrance. When he heard an affirmative, he pushed open the door and closed it quickly behind him. 

He turned around, surprised to see Patton crying. Walking over to sit beside him on the bed, he asked what was wrong.

"Its stupid. I don't even know why I'm crying, sorry. What did you need?"

Logan frowned, "If you are crying it is clearly not stupid. What I wanted to say can wait,"

Patton wiped away a few tears. "It's just that, what if Roman doesn't come back from this hunt like- like Virgil did? I just, I can't lose him too," 

Logan's mouth made an 'o' shape as he saw what the problem was. He pulled Patton into a side hug. He wasn't sure what to say, so he settled for doing his best to comfort him physically.

Patton sniffed after several minutes had past, "so what did you want to say?" he asked.

"Well, it was about Virgil," he said slowly.

Patton's eyebrows furrowed. "What about him?"

Logan fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. "There's just, things that logically don't make sense."

"Like what?" Patton asked, interest piqued.

"Well the armour first of all. Why was it all there? The dragon wouldn't stop to take off Virgil's armour piece by piece," 

Patton considered this. "So what are you saying?"

"I'm not saying Virgil's alive, if that's what you're implying," he didn't miss the way Patton's face fell, "but I don't think he was killed by that dragon. Perhaps dark magic or something else, but the dragon couldn't have killed him,"

"So that means they're going to kill an innocent dragon? We have to get a message to them-" Patton made to stand up, as Logan grabbed his wrist lightly and pulled him back down.

"Patton, even if it wasn't the dragon, it has been terrorising towns for months. Plus they're already gone. You wouldn't get a message to them in time," he finished, pulling Patton back into a loose hug. 

Patton rested his head on Logan's shoulder. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

They spent the last hours of the day distracting one another from their thoughts. Thomas joined them and asked Logan if he wanted to join them in the main hall for dinner, to which Logan agreed.

They were finishing the main course as a messenger walked into the hall.

"My lord, there is a message for you from Prince Roman." He bowed at the waist as he addressed Thomas.

"What is it?" Thomas asked.

The messenger eyed Logan and Patton with an unreadable expression. "They can hear whatever you have to say," said Thomas, bringing the messengers attention back to him. Patton and Logan shared a look of worry for their friend.

The man nodded. "Prince Roman sent one of the men of the hunting party back with an urgent message. He needs to find a powerful magician, one that can break an immensely strong dark curse,"

"What for?" interrupted Patton.

The messenger exhaled through his nose, composing himself. "Prince Virgil is alive." Patton made a noise and brought his hands up to cover his mouth, eyes welling with tears. Logan sat in complete shock, barely registering anything that was happening. Thomas retained his composure, fighting the tears that were threatening to spill.

"He has been cursed with powerful dark magic and heavily injured."

Patton made another wounded noise.

"The medic Prince Roman had requested to accompany them saved his life. Unfortunately, the curse prevents him from leaving the mountain cave they are currently situated in. Prince Roman said he would send another messenger tomorrow with any more information."

The silence stretched on, broken by Thomas dismissing the servant with a quiet 'thank you'. 

"He's alive…" whispered Patton.

Thomas nodded mutely. He had grown close to Virgil, much like Logan and Roman had, because of his connection with Patton. It hit him hard when the news had come of his untimely death. He had made sure Starlight had helped with the funeral and subsequent events following. Virgil had become like another brother to him. 

For the rest of the night and most of the next morning, all three of them wandered the castle like zombies. When a servant told Patton and Logan that they were requested in the throne room, they ran the entire way there.

Throwing open the large, ornate doors to the throne room, they were met with the sight of King Thomas talking with the messenger from last night, as well as an unknown person who had long hair, died many different colours. Thomas looked up as they walked in, a huge grin splitting his face.

"Roman sent another message," Thomas began explaining. "Virgil is awake and wants to see you two." 

Patton literally jumped for joy, while Logan narrowed his eyes.

"You're not coming?" he asked.

The smile faded slightly. "No, I shouldn't leave the kingdom when both of my brothers and my right hand are all gone. But I trust I will get updates. Besides," he said, motioning to the unknown person beside him, "Talyn is the most skilled in our two kingdoms at breaking curses. I'm sure I will see him soon."

At the mention, the person gave a slight wave.

"It's early enough in the day that if you leave now, you should make it well before supper, it is only a few hours ride," said Thomas. "I can arrange for the carriage if you want?"

"No, it's fine. We can take a few horses," said Patton, eager to go as soon as possible.

"Patton is correct. Getting the carriage ready would take extra time that I'm sure he would rather spend with Virgil." Logan smiled.

"Of course." Thomas smiled as well, as if sharing an inside joke with the two. "Well, I shall let you go then. Talyn? Send a messenger if there's any complications or you need anything."

The magician nodded, "Of course, sire."

With that, the three of them made their way to the stables and were on their way to the mountain cave.


	6. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have the next chapter pre written, but I'd like to get at least the climax written before I post it. 
> 
> also thank you so much for the comments?? I wasnt paying attention to them and I opened them up to see just bucketloads of love and just akshakajsk yall made my month thank you so much

Virgil spent the rest of the day under an impromptu 'house arrest'. Roman had made it clear that he was not to venture farther into the cave incase the dragon decided to come back. Virgil had huffed at this, but obeyed the rule. Roman had tried to assure him that the men had orders to kill the dragon on sight, which funnily enough, did not reassure him in the slightest.

He spent the morning walking around the small, temporary camp (at the protest of the doctor), talking with the soldiers as well as Roman. He wasn't paying attention to time, so it was a suprise when he accidentally let the sunlight brush his arm while walking around with Roman, the warmth of it shocking his system. He jumped back as if the sun had burnt him. He was aware that his back had hit a wall and that he was breathing too fast.

He jumped when someone grabbed his hands, but grabbed them back when the person had begun to pull them away. He breathed, his awareness slowly came back as he registered that he wasn't dead. The person, who turned out to be Roman, had lowered them to the ground. Virgil pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his forehead on them.

"Hey, hey Virge, you with me now?"

Virgil nodded slightly, counting his breaths carefully. Tears started slowly leaking out of his eyes as his brain went over every way that could've gone wrong. What could've happened if he hadn't mastered delaying the change for a few measly seconds. He couldn't risk changing in plain view of the entire hunting party.

"Virgil, can you look at me?"

His best chance now would be to wait until the magician gets here and see if they can break it. He could tell the others what had happened later, when he wasn't in danger of being killed. Or better yet, he could never tell them. Maybe they would assume it was too traumatic for him to talk about and they would leave him alone.

"Virgil! C'mon you're scaring me. Talk to me,"

But what if it couldn't be broken? The kingdoms could never know he was the dragon because he had stolen from and scared them. They would hate him and refuse to let him into the kingdom, much less accept them as their king. Not that it would matter if this never got fixed-

_"Virgil!"_

His head snapped up. He stared at Roman who had tears streaming down his face. His eyes were wide with fear, hands now clutching Virgil's shoulders tightly, as if he was afraid he was going to float away. The soldiers had respectfully kept their distance, but still hung close behind Roman incase something was wrong. The men from the Isle of Storms all look significantly more shocked by Virgil's breakdown. They had seen Virgil lead his men without showing an ounce of fear in the face of danger.

"I.." Virgil whispered, barely registering he made a sound before he flew to a standing position, ignoring the wave of nausea and vertigo, and stumbled to his tent. He crashed down onto the small cot occupying one of the walls.

He expected Roman to follow him in, but was surprised when he was left alone. He basked in the solitude for a few minutes, before the tent flap was pushed open. He looked at the new arrival, surprised yet again to see the doctor. He smiled kindly at Virgil.

"Hey there. I told Prince Roman to give you some space, seeing as I need to change your bandages anyway. Is that okay?"

Virgil nodded, immensely thankful for the doctor already.

"My name is Emile Picani. Do you mind taking off your shirt for me?" he asked, voice gentle, as if talking to a cornered animal, which in reality wasn't an inaccurate comparison.

He nodded, slowly slipping his cloak and shirt off, wincing as it pulled on the scab. He mourned the loss of his cloak almost immediately.

Emile hummed at the fresh red spots on the bandages. "It looks like you opened up the wound again, but you didn't pull any stitches so it should be fine."

He changed the bandages with minimal talking, only instructing Virgil to move a few times. When he was done, Virgil slipped his shirt back on.

"Word of warning, Prince Roman is most likely going to charge in here once I give him the all good," Emile said, a small smile showing that his words had no ill intent.

Virgil nodded mutely from his cot, watching the tent flap swing in the wind as the doctor left. Without delay and just as Emile predicted, Roman entered almost immediately. He crossed the tent and sat beside Virgil. Silence stretched for a few seconds.

"So it's the sun that triggers the curse?" he asked, voice quiet.

Virgil nodded. "The sunlight or when I'm not touching the mountain," he elaborated.

"That's why you couldn't leave at night," Roman whispered to himself. Virgil realised he had probably been wondering that the few minutes he had been alone.

Virgil hummed. Silence overwhelmed the tent once again. Virgil wasn't sure if he was hoping for Roman to ask what happened if he touched sunlight, or for him to leave it alone.

They spent the next few hours together in the tent as the shadows retreated further and further into the cave. As midday slowly past, there were whispers of four figures spotted making their way towards the cave. When the whispers became louder, Roman ducked out of the tent with a promise to be back within the minute.

He was met with the sight of Patton, Logan, the messenger he had sent that morning, and someone he didn't recognize, but had _amazing_ brightly dyed hair.

Patton caught sight of him. "Roman!" he cried, looking both excited and terrified at the same time. Roman smiled, walking over to them. Letting a huff of breath escape him as Patton tackled him in a hug.

"Hey padre, specks," he said, looking to each of them. He paused as his gaze settled on the new person. They bowed, introducing themself.

"My name is Tayln. King Thomas sent me to assist in breaking the curse," Roman relaxed at the knowledge that his brother had found a magician so fast.

"Great! I assume you two want to talk to him first?" he asked, directing his question at the two royals. He laughed when Patton nodded so fast he thought his glasses were going to fly off his face. He dismissed the soldiers, but not before asking one of them to check that the men at the bottom of the mountain watching the horses were doing okay. He walked towards the tent Virgil was in slowly, motioning to Talyn to follow him as well.

"How is he doing?" asked Logan.

"Physically? Doc says he'll heal," responded Roman, choosing his words carefully.

"What about mentally?" Patton questioned, practically shaking with worry.

Roman sighed, "Not the greatest." He paused far enough away from the tent that they could speak without being overheard. "The curse seems to have taken a toll on him. It's sunlight that triggers it. He accidentally got his arm a little too close to the entrance of the cave and freaked out earlier."

At the mention of the curse, Talyn perked up, absorbing every word. "Did anything physically happen?" they asked.

"Nothing I, or any of my men saw," Roman answered. "Oh by the way, please don't stray too far from the camp," he added, "we think we drove out the dragon, but it's just a precaution."

Patton relaxed when he heard that the dragon was alive, Roman noticed and gave him a strange look.

"Logan can explain later," he said.

Roman nodded, glancing at Logan quickly. "Alright. I'll go in first to tell him what's happening," and with that, he entered the tent once again.


	7. A Confessional

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I thought this was going to be a three chapter story? fun times.

Virgil heard voices nearing the tent. They had stopped just far enough away that he could hear them, but couldn't tell what they were saying. Roman's head poked in the tent. Virgil was going to make some quip about it being more than a minute, when he saw the look on Roman's face. It was full of hope. More than Virgil had seen in a long time. He sent a questioning look at Roman. He smiled in return.

"Patton and Logan are here. They brought a magician too, their name is Talyn. They're just outside." Roman hovered by the tent flap.

Virgil's eyes widened. He wasn't sure if he was ready to see them again, but he nodded to Roman, swallowing the lump in his throat. He stood up.

Roman smiled at him, either not noticing his nervousness or choosing to ignore it. He pushed the flap open, gesturing for the people outside to enter.

Patton was the first one in. Virgil barely registered that Logan and Talyn had followed, he only had eyes for his fiance.

Patton took a hesitant step, before rushing over to Virgil and pulling him into a hug, almost knocking him over. Virgil flinched at the unexpected contact. After a few long seconds, he slowly wrapped his arms around Patton's torso. He heard a sob, muffled in the fabric of his cloak. Tears sprung to his eyes and he buried his face into the side of Patton's neck, squeezing him tighter.

"Pat..?" Virgil questioned, wincing internally as his voice cracked. 

Patton let loose another sob, shoving his face into Virgil's shoulder. "I thought- I didn't- I love you  _ so _ much," he could barely get through a sentence.

He shifted, and winced slightly when he pulled at his stitches. Patton let go of him immediately, hands ghosting over his body, not knowing where he was hurt.

Roman walked over, hovering his hand over Virgil's stomach until he got a nod of consent. He pulled up his shirt enough to see the bandages and small spots of red dotting the white fabric. 

"You probably didn't pull anything loose, if it hurts any more I can go find the doctor," Roman offered, dropping the hem of the shirt. 

Patton had a look of horror on his face. "What happened?" he whispered.

Virgil just shook his head, not having an excuse ready.

Logan walked over, placing a hand on Virgil shoulder slowly, as to not startle him. Virgil offered his friend a small smile, before he was pulled into another hug. Logan didn't let him go for a while, seemingly needing to reassure himself that Virgil was real.

When they pulled apart, Roman introduced him to the magician. 

Patton walked back into his field of vision, playing with something in his hands. Virgil looked at him with curiosity. 

"This was brought to our kingdom after.. after we got the news," he said, holding out his hand. In the center of his palm sat a golden locket. Virgil picked it up slowly, afraid it would disappear if he moved too fast. He clicked it open, staring at the picture in the middle, before closing it again.

He unclasped the chain, but couldn't put it on with his arm still injured. He turned his back to Patton slightly, holding the necklace out, hoping he got the message. Patton grabbed it in silence, quickly clasping it together around Virgil's neck.

"Thank you," he whispered as the heart locket settled in the nook of his collarbone. Patton nodded, eyes wet.

"So, how is this gonna work?" Virgil asked, turning his attention back to the matter at hand.

"I'd like to talk to you alone for a while, if that's okay," Talyn asked, directing the end of the sentence at the other three people in the tent. "If you would like tonight together, that is understandable."

Roman glanced at Logan and Patton before facing Virgil. "It's up to you, Verge."

Virgil fiddled with his necklace. "I want to get this over with," he responded. Roman nodded, gesturing for the other two to follow him out. Patton gave him another quick hug before reluctantly following. 

Even after they were alone, Talyn said nothing, only observing him with a thoughtful expression. After a few moments of tense silence, Virgil broke.

"What?" he snapped.

Talyn looked at him with an unreadable expression. "There's more to your curse than you told them, isn't there?"

Virgil froze. "What do you mean?" He didn't expect them to be able to tell by sight.

Talyn sat on the cot, motioning to Virgil to do the same. "I can practically see the dark magic around you, and it's not the kind of curse that would only keep you from leaving somewhere. You don't have to tell me, but it will make my job much easier."

Virgil hesitated. He had been waiting for this moment, to explain to someone what happened, but worries and fears caught his voice in his throat. 

He pushed through, starting at his hunting trip. He told about Mara, knowing that his father had hopefully already gotten the message and locked her up. He told Talyn about discovering he was a dragon, and flying away out of fear. He refused to look at their face. He recounted the events loosely up to his plan to explain things to Roman, including what had happened in his attempt to leave at night.

When he was done, Talyn didn't speak. He peaked at them out of the corner of his eye. They looked thoughtful, although a little shocked.

"I have to say," they began, "I didn't expect you to be the dragon, but it does make sense. I suppose we don't need to worry about a dragon attack then," they joked, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work.

"I think I can remove the curse, but it would take a day or two for me to gather the materials and find the right words. It's a lot harder to undo a knot then make one, but it's never impossible," they reassured.

Virgil nodded as they stood up and walked towards the door.

Before Talyn left the tent, they turned to face him again. "I think you should tell them what the curse really is. You don't have to, just my thoughts," and with that, they left.

~~~~~~~

Just outside the Isle of Storms, Mara breathed heavily. She had spent a lot of her stamina dodging the guards, something she had perfected while she had been practicing dark magic.

When news of Virgil being alive reached the kingdom, she packed and left, knowing it wouldn't be long before her brother sold her out.

She had caught the messenger just before midday and killed him after confirming he knew what she had done. The look of fear on his face when he saw her was very telling.

She had changed into a spare pair of commoners clothing before leaving, allowing her to walk through the village square easily. She made her way back to the castle stables, the guards letting her in when they saw her face, and took off on her horse without another word.

Huffing, she picked out the direction of the mountain she had watched her brother fly into and subsequently tied to his curse. It had worked so much better than she had ever expected.

With the news of Virgil being alive, and then the messenger who was going to inform her father of her treason, it was pretty safe to say that the hunting party hadn't killed the stupid dragon. That also meant that she had to do it herself. 

She would try to do it quietly at first, perhaps messing with her brothers curse, or planting another curse that would end in his death. If she had to, she was prepared to kill everyone there, including Prince Roman and his men. As long as Virgil was dead, and there were no witnesses. She would do anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm stuck with writers block in the middle of the climax, lm thinking three, maybe four more chapters. 
> 
> I have the next one finished and ready to go, and let me tell you it is a n g s t y so prepare yourselves lmao


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One step forward, five steps back.

Hours turned into days, and while Talyn had assured them that they were making progress, nothing had been done yet.

Virgil spent most of his time surrounded by the other three, none of them willing to let him out of their sight. Thankfully, he was more cautious and didn't accidentally brush the sunlight again. He hadn't heard of any news from his kingdom, however. Two more messengers had been sent to inform the families of the soldiers that there was a complication and they were staying at camp.

He spent a while talking with the head guard from Isle of Storms, Joan, whom he hadn't seen since he spotted them riding toward his cave, although he could never tell them that. At one point they had been best friends. He was the one that convinced his father to make them head guard. They had grown apart as time went on, but it was obvious that they each still cared deeply for each other.

The next day, Roman dismissed some of the men who had children and large families. Anyone who wanted to go was allowed to. Most of the men stayed, despite the offer. A few from the Isles of Storms went home, but almost everyone from Starlight stayed, having most of their royal court in the cave with them.

The second day, Virgil couldn't get out of bed. There was a pain in his skin so terrible that he couldn't bring himself to sit up. He laid on his cot until someone came into his tent to find him.

Emile checked on him, declaring that his wound on his stomach had somehow grown infected. He was baffled, as the wound had been cleaned and rebandaged twice a day Any normal infection would've run its course already.

Talyn had stepped in, determining that dark magic had been used. They had to dedicate the first few hours of that day to reversing the curse, taking away from their time working on the anti spell to the main curse.

Logan voiced his concerns to the others. "Virgil, you said it was Mara who cursed you, correct?" When Virgil nodded an affirmative, he continued. "Have we heard anything from the Isles of Storms since the first message was sent?" Logan questioned.

Virgil's eyes widened. "You don't think-"

Roman motioned to a nearby soldier. "Do a perimeter check. Princess Mara may be nearby, she cannot be allowed near Virgil." the soldier bowed, swiftly leaving to inform the other men.

"If she truly is stopping the messages from getting there, there's no reason to risk another life trying to get help. We're lucky the messengers got to Starlight." said Roman.

"All those men," Patton said, horror evident in his voice. "You don't think she..?" When no one responded, he made a hurt noise.

"From now on, someone should be with Virgil at all times," Roman declared to the nodding heads of Logan, Patton, and Talyn. "Virgil, if you start to feel weird at all, get Talyn right away." 

Virgil nodded in agreement as well. As exhausting it would be to be around people 24/7, he knew that Mara wanted him dead. The infection was most likely a test. He wasn't sure if they had passed or failed.

The third day, everyone was tense, waiting for something to happen. Virgil was constantly accompanied by someone, most often Patton or Roman, although Joan also seemed hesitant to leave his side. It was nearing evening and nothing had happened, so Virgil was able to slip away for a few minutes at a time to get a break from the overwhelming stress of socializing. 

He was walking with Patton, they had taken to pacing the cave when one of them got too anxious or jittery. Their interactions were growing less and less one sided, but still consisted mainly of Patton rambling and Virgil nodding along. 

Patton was in the middle of a story about a dog that followed him around the town square when Virgil suddenly felt nauseous. He made a face, putting his hand to his stomach.

Patton paused, "Are you okay?" he asked. "Did you pull a stitch? Should I go get Doctor Picani?"

"No, I'm..." Virgil trailed off, remembering Roman said to get the magician if he felt off. "..Talyn," he croaked, wincing when Patton's face filled with fear.

He waved off Patton's offer to help him walk, but an arm was placed around Virgil's waist anyway. 

They made their way closer towards the cave opening where the majority of the tents were set up. The nausea slowly became worse, Patton's arm tugging around his waist growing more insistent. With difficulty, he swung his arm up around Patton's shoulders to work as leverage.

Logan and Talyn, who had been conversing outside one of the tents, had locked eyes with the frantic Patton, basically pulling Virgil along by this point. Logan yelled at someone nearby to fetch Roman while Talyn ran over to them.

Just before Talyn reached them, Virgil felt his legs give out, placing too much weight on Patton, who fell to his knees beside him. His body was manoeuvred so his arms weren't tangled with his fiance's.

His injuries flared up with pain, matching the now steadily growing pressure behind his eyes and temples. The nausea grew to the point that any time he shifted, he felt like his insides were being flipped inside out and prodded with a hot stick. 

He could hear everyone crowding around him, frightened words being exchanged over his head.

Someone placed an arm under his upper back, as if to either pick him up or help him sit up. He clenched his eyes shut and tried to hold back the whimper that threatened to escape him as the world tilted and swirled along with his stomach.

He was immediately set back down, his hands clenching on air as his body revolted. Another hand slipped into one of his. It was soft, and accompanied by words he couldn't understand, being spoken in a soft but panicked voice. 

His back arched off the ground as pain suddenly drove hard into his spine, gasping for air. A burning started in his chest with every inhale he took. It only got worse, no matter if he took small breaths or slow, deep ones. It burned his throat as if he was breathing acid, settling in his chest and not leaving.

His pain riddled brain did the only thing it could think of to stop part of the pain, he held his breath. When the people around him realized he wasn't breathing, he was met with several slaps to the face, the stinging barely registering over the catastrophic burning throughout his body.

Hands grabbed his face on both sides. As he ran out of air, the burning feeling of suffocation joined the rest. His chest heaved. He couldn't resist the impulse, the  _ need _ to breathe, and he exhaled and inhaled in a rush. He cried out as the burning had gotten many times worse.

Voices became louder, the hands on his face leaving, and an arm slipping behind his head to prop it up. Something cold pressed to his lips, tipped forward just enough he could feel liquid splashing at his lips. He parted his mouth, the liquid being slowly poured in. 

He choked on the first swallow, but when it eased the burning in his throat, he greedily gulped down the rest of it as it was poured into his mouth.

Eventually the cool metal, which he assumed to be a cup, was pulled away. He laid on the ground, drinking in the feeling of the pain melting away. The pain in his head eased to the point he could open his eyes. He was met with Talyn hovering over him, an empty cup in their hand. They exhaled when they saw his eyes open, leaning back to let someone else fret over him. 

Roman was the one with the arm behind his head, and Patton was still holding his hand. Everyone started talking at once, making Virgil groan lightly and close his eyes again.

"Hey storm cloud," Patton said, hand brushing hair out of Virgil's face as his eyes opened once again.

"Hey starshine," he answered. Patton beamed at the nickname. 

"How are you feeling?" questioned Logan, voice uncharacteristically soft. 

"Better," he croaked. "What happened?"

"Dark magic according to Talyn," said Roman, "not that I doubt them, that was pretty scary,"

Virgil barely had time to process that Roman admitted to being scared before Talyn stepped back over, cup gone.

"Thankfully I knew the anti curse to that one pretty well. I had it premade just in case," they explained.

Virgil hummed, eyelids growing heavy, exhausted from the toll the magic had put on his body and mind. 

"Is he okay to sleep?" he heard someone ask.

He heard an affirmative answer, ready to drift off when he was scooped up in Roman's arms. He yelped, struggling a bit until he was let down.

"I can walk," he huffed. He probably couldn't, but he wanted to retain some semblance of pride.

With help, he made his way over to his tent, collapsing onto the cot. Roman helped adjust his body, swinging his legs up so they weren't hanging off the side. 

He fell asleep seconds after his head hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writers block is a bitch let me tell you.   
> I was re-reading this to make sure I didnt mess anything up and I found a few small plot holes. I'll probably go back and fix them later when the story is done


End file.
